>>>>> "Britt" == Britt Johnston <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
Since Monty is travelling for 30 hours or so (from Australia) I will
answer this.
Britt> Well, what a mess. It is regretable that this legal issue
Britt> needs to be aired so publically that was certainly not my
Britt> preference. I also will not get into a flame war, it is not in
Britt> the best interest of mysql. I appreciate all the email I've
Britt> received with advice and/or support - thanks.
It was not our will to make the legal issue into a Public debate
either. But you chose to mention the legal stuff to a journalist. I
wont comment on everything in this email to avoid extra escalation.
Britt> It is important that everyone realize that there is a legal
Britt> agreement that both Monty and David personally signed that
Britt> provides NuSphere broad rights around the use of the MySQL
Britt> name. That agreement also allows NuSphere to release MySQL
Britt> under the GPL license forever and print and distribute the
Britt> manual. We paid significant money to Monty and David in
Britt> exchange for that agreement which was central to forming
Britt> NuSphere. This is public record.
There WAS an interim agreement from June 2000 to be replaced within 3
months by a final agreement. We have confirmed to NuSphere in writing
the termination of the interim agreement. It has not been in force for
some time. Also I was the only one who signed (not Monty) it and sent
it by fax (we where in a hurry).
When it was in force, the interim agreement did NOT provide NuSphere
broad rights to use the MySQL name and it did not grant any licenses
"forever". Under the agreement, Progress paid a total of USD 312,501
with the last check being cut in September 2000. See
http://www.mysql.com/news/article-75.html for more information on
this.
And about the right to distribute under the GPL. I remember very well
asking you why this paragraph was in the agreement. I thought it was
stupid to add a right to distribute the GPL version of MySQL under the
GPL. You said is was just something your lawyers wanted even if it was
just stating a right everyone had.
Of course any GPL software can be distributed by anyone as long as the
GPL terms are followed. But we might choose to put a future version
under a different license (free-software/open source compatible of
course!) and we never granted you the right to distribute NEW versions
of MySQL under the GPL ver 2 forever.
And just like anybody in the whole world you can distribute any new
version that we license under the GPL if you follow the requirements
of the GPL.
Britt> Please consider these facts when you try to understand
Britt> NuSphere's rights and motivations - we actually worked hard to
Britt> get the details in writing before we even started the company
Britt> and we paid real money. It is under this agreement that we
Britt> believe we have a clear right to use mysql.org.
You never ever had right to operate MySQL.org
Britt> Now it appears there is a need by MySQL AB to characterize that
Britt> agreement as no longer in effect - I hope you can respect the
Britt> fact that NuSphere believes it is fully in effect and we wish
Britt> to continue to abide by it. This is the central issue and
Britt> public debate will not resolve it.
It was a interim agreement and has also been officially terminated.
Britt> As far as mysql.org goes, what NuSphere would like to see is a
Britt> non-profit organization running that site - we have been
Britt> consistent in this desire for over a year, but it has been
Britt> opposed by Monty and David. I discussed this with Monty as
Britt> recently as a few weeks ago in June and July and as always he
Britt> was not interested - I appreciate he is entitled to that
Britt> opinion as I am entitled to believe that it is time to take
Britt> this step in the MySQL community. I invite all those who are
Britt> skeptical to join mysql.org and be part of its formation.
Why do you want us to be non-profit and you to be for profit? Can't
you operate it as NuSphere.org?"
What you have wanted in the past is that MySQL AB should give up its
copyright to MySQL and turn it over to a foundation more like Apache
that has small commercial interests.
Since I and Monty had a commercial business idea when we started MySQL
in 94-95 that was not what we wanted. Since MySQL AB distributes
EVERYTHING it develops under GPL/LPGL or Public domain licensing we
already have a community site.
If you want to set up another one, you are free to do so, but you must
not use our name for it.
We know that MySQL.com is not yet all what it could be. But we have
worked on fixing this and we very recently showed our portals that
will be the basis of much more easily navigable information on MySQL.
Check them out (http://www.mysql.com/portal).
If you want to help please help us include everything MySQL related
here with comments and ratings! If you wan to help you can send mail
to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Britt> [BTW, the first community action was to get rid of the
Britt> registration requirement at the site - it is no longer required
Britt> for downloading files rather it is a membership registration
Britt> only now.]
Nice that you learn. But why did you include it in the first place? I
clearly remember telling some NuSphere people at lenght why
registration was a bad idea during our early discussions.
It does not inspire confidence to start a community by breaking the
GPL and doing a community site without involving the community.
I expect you to release the souce code any day now. But the GPL
requires you to provide a way to the user to get source code at the
time you distribute the linked binary. Not some months afterwords!
Also from your licensing page:
Q: Can I use MySQL without paying NuSphere a license fee?
A: Our products come with source code for generic MySQL without
Gemini. If you build MySQL yourself, you are free to distribute it
without incurring a license fee. If, however, you use Enhanced MySQL,
the version of MySQL that has the NuSphere Gemini table type compiled,
you will need to pay us a license fee.
Since Gemini is statically linked with MySQL this is laughing at the
GPL!
Britt> As far as NuSphere's contribution to MySQL, it is disappointing
Britt> to see our efforts discounted so quickly. At a minimum there
Britt> are specific bug fixes, features, and language statements
Britt> focused around transaction support in the server that are in
Britt> MySQL due to NuSphere's efforts in cooperation with Monty. The
Britt> Gemini table handler itself is already part of MySQL and is
Britt> licensed under the GPL - go find ha_gemini.cc and you will see
Britt> it we checked it in long ago in V4 and again in 3.23 when V4
Britt> was late. The Gemini component itself will be released via
Britt> mysql.org as GPL as previously announced - note that Gemini
Britt> itself is not a derivative of MySQL in any way - it's roots
Britt> date back to long before MySQL existed.
We appreciate the technical work you have done and are doing, but the
table hander interface code is a small pice of code that is totally
useless without Gemini itself. And that file is HEAVILY based on
ha_berkeley.cc.
I see your contribution as being almost total in the marketing of
MySQL as a side effect of marketing NuSphere.
And Monty traveled twice from Finland to Bedford helping you with this
under the impression that it should be GPL from the beginning.
The Gemini that has not been released yet will be the first
contribution from you.
Britt> Finally independent of the rest of this. I have the highest
Britt> respect for Monty and what he has done creating MySQL. I'm
Britt> certain we can move beyond this and make MySQL an even stronger
Britt> open source project and I encourage everyone move to a
Britt> constructive dialog.
Britt, please remember that I personally and Monty as well appreciate
you and your work for the MySQL community very much.
And we are of course willing to continue the talks we had when I and
Mårten visited NuSphere in Bedford last month.
__ ___ ___ ____ __
/ |/ /_ __/ __/ __ \/ / David Axmark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
/ /|_/ / // /\ \/ /_/ / /__ MySQL AB, http://www.mysql.com/
/_/ /_/\_, /___/\___\_\___/ Uppsala, Sweden
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